Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs made his first court appearance Thursday on two misdemeanor charges tied to an alleged May altercation involving his girlfriend.
Jacobs entered a no contest plea to misdemeanor charges of battery and criminal damage to property, according to The Athletic.
As part of the court’s order, Jacobs must have no contact with the victim, take part in counseling and provide restitution. His attorney told the court the NFL player had already started counseling voluntarily.
Jacobs was also directed to pay a $1,000 fine connected to the misdemeanor battery charge.
‘I fully understand the seriousness of the situation and I take full responsibility,’ Jacobs said in a brief statement.
His legal team confirmed the plea agreement in a statement, while also pointing to Jacobs’ charitable work and involvement in the Green Bay community.
Green Bay Packers running back Josh Jacobs pleaded no contest to misdemeanor charges
Jacobs was arrested May 26 following an alleged altercation with his girlfriend
‘With this agreement, Josh has accepted responsibility for his conduct and resolved this matter,’ the statement read. ‘Today’s resolution is set against a career long history of Josh’s community work while in the NFL, which has centered on the circumstances of his early life.
‘For example, in 2022 his Raiders teammates selected him for the Ed Block Courage Award, an honor voted by players, citing his assistance to families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic. His 2020 partnership with Kia – built around his own experience of homelessness – generated $1 million for Covenant House, StandUp for Kids and Positive Tomorrows, organizations serving homeless youth.
‘He has since supported Milwaukee Fire Department safety programming, the NFL’s TEAM UP against Human Trafficking initiative, Forge Ministries in Tulsa with a food trailer donation against hunger, Toys for Tots in Las Vegas, Make-A-Wish Foundation for sick children, USAA for military families, and Dairyland Sports, a Wisconsin nonprofit expanding athletic access for people with physical disabilities.’
The court appearance had been moved forward from November to Thursday last week at Jacobs’ request.
Both that request and his plea suggest that Jacobs wanted to resolve the case sooner rather than dragging it out through the legal system.
The hearing came three days before the Green Bay Packers are set to open their 2026 NFL season against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.
The NFL has placed Jacobs on the commissioner’s exempt list, which prevents the three-time Pro Bowl running back from playing or practicing but allows him to keep receiving a paycheck.
The NFL made that move on August 30, three days after Brown County District Attorney David Lasee announced that Jacobs was being charged with battery and criminal damage to property.
Jacobs has been placed on the NFL’s Commissioner’s Exempt List, meaning he can’t play
Upon request and with the club’s permission, players on the commissioner’s exempt list may be allowed at the facility for meetings, individual workouts, therapy and rehabilitation and other nonfootball activities.
The NFL also launched an investigation Jacobs’s situation. Thursday’s plea and the legal resolution of the case now allows the league to take disciplinary action through a suspension.
Any games he misses while on the exempt list would count toward his suspension, but he would have to repay the money he earned during that time.
Jacobs was arrested May 26, three days after Hobart-Lawrence police officers came to his home to investigate a disturbance. Police said Jacobs’s girlfriend told them she had a lump on her head as a result of Jacobs’s actions.
According to police, the woman said she had been looking through Jacobs’s phone and saw he was talking to other women, and that she threw the phone in anger without breaking it. She told police that Jacobs had her phone and she told him he could look through it.
Police said the woman indicated she tried to retrieve her phone from Jacobs, but he grabbed her arm and began a struggle that lasted several minutes. They left the home in separate vehicles before eventually returning.
According to police, the woman was trying to exit a garage door when Jacobs grabbed her and threw her to the ground, causing her to hit her head. Police said Jacobs also took the phone from her while she was on the ground.
The criminal complaint says surveillance footage from the camera system in the garage backed up the woman’s statement.
The former Alabama and Las Vegas Raiders running back joined the Packers in 2014
Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst said this week that the team hadn’t seen that video footage. He expressed hope that Jacobs would be available to play at some point this season.
‘But we’re going to let this process play out, and we’ll be prepared either way,’ Gutekunst said.
Jacobs is coming off a 2025 season in which he rushed for 929 yards and 13 touchdowns. The Packers don’t have any other running backs who ran for more than 106 yards last year.
Green Bay acquired 2025 third-round pick Kaleb Johnson from the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday to join a running back room that also includes 2024 third-round pick MarShawn Lloyd and Chris Brooks. Green Bay has Pierre Strong Jr on its practice squad.
